Thankful Thursday: Books

I like to read.

Just so we're clear, that last sentence is an understatement on the same scale as "Space is kinda big." Just ask my wife, who has banned me from getting another bookcase for a while.

Now, we're living in the age of eReaders and tablets, letting us get our books in digital form, but personally, I'm not a big fan of them. Sure, they're great for portability, there are some pretty amazing things being done with reference material in eBooks because you can include cross-references and updates to books that you just can't get with a hard copy. But I want the hard copy. There is simply something about holding the book in your hand, the feel of the page, the words on paper rather than yet another screen. I spend a lot of time staring at computer screens, I'd rather not do so to read a book, too.

When I'm reading a good book in a quiet room, I'm rarely if ever thinking about the room I'm in. Instead, I'm far away and loving it. I have been a voracious reader for most of my life, from early elementary school on through today. I mean, I ran out of books to read for class in middle school and had to work with the librarian to make up tests for other books simply so I could complete my assignments.

Whether classic authors like Orwell or more modern authors like Butcher or Abnett, I've enjoyed all sorts of books, though I'll be the first to admit I lean heavily towards fantasy and science fiction. There have been days when a good book is all that got me through the day, and you'll hardly ever find me without something to read.

Books are amazing things, and I couldn't imagine what life would be like without them.

Putting Words in Your Mouth

So, I'm trying to get back to doing videos for my local gaming store, the Foundry. I did them for a long while this past fall (you can find them here) pertaining to gaming news across multiple gaming systems, such as Warhammer, Malifaux, and Flames of War, but due to work issues I stopped doing them.

When you work at 4 AM, staying up late to film a video doesn't really become high on your priority list.

But now that I'm mostly settled in, I'm trying to get back to it because I really enjoyed it. Rather than the biweekly pace I did before (when I was unemployed), I plan on doing bi-monthly videos instead so I can hopefully keep on track rather than slipping behind. However, I'm only going to do one news broadcast because, lets face it, unless I cover absolutely every company invovled in tabletop gaming, I'm not going to have enough info for a broadcast twice monthly. And since I'm doing this for a local scene, I'd rather cover what we care about rather than just adding info no one will care about.

So, to take up the slack, I'm going to start covering the finer points of tactics as taught by the masters. By masters, I don't mean top players, I'm going straight to the source: Sun-Tzu, Clauswitz, etc. While they talk about warfare on usually a much larger scale than these games are able to cover, the principles they teach are still incredibly useful.

It looks to be a lot of fun, and for this first one I'll be talking about flexibility and multi-role capability, both on the strategic and tactical scales. Got the script mostly written last night (just needs some tuning), and I hope to have it filmed and online by next Monday. Now, to figure out who to use to voice the video...

What is in a name?

So, I bet some of you are wondering just what's up with the name of the blog. Void Missives? I mean, seriously, how pretentious can I sound, right?

Well, I chose the name for a couple of reasons. First up, I didn't really make the blog for any particular reason other than to try and shake out the mental cobwebs and get me writing for at least a little bit every day. May not be the fiction I'd like, may not be the length I'd like or even the quality, but I just need to actually put some words to the page every day. So Void Missives stands for the fact that I really didn't have any need for someone else to read these: letters (missives) sent out to the void, rather than a person.

Then I also knew that there would be some days when I really didn't have much to say, but I'm trying to say something anyway. Like today, I would guess. So Void Missives covers that another way: letters with no point, and so are void.

And then, because there's always a geeky angle, we come back to Warhammer. Messages sent back and forth between the planets of the Imperium are sent via astropaths, people who connect with each other psychically across the Warp. While it's not canon anywhere I've seen, I thought that Void Missives would be a nice, poetic way to describe the letters sent back and forth between the planets.

And so there you have it. Never just one meaning when three will do, right?

Fiction Fridays: Scene Study

Today I'm gonna give a shot to writing something original. Just a quick scene, nothing too in depth. Hopefully I can get something going with it, but feel free to tell me if I'm failing.

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He stood at the window, watching the sun rose across the horizon, the waves crashing against the stone below. Is this what they were watching last? he wondered as he just took in the beauty of it for a moment, trying to dispell the darkness that he knew was behind him.

"Detective?" one of the technicians asked from behind him, breaking the spell. "Is everything alright?"

Jon turned around to look at the young woman. "No, it's not. If everything were alright, after all, I wouldn't be needed here." At the woman's confused look, he forced a smile on his face and set a hand on her shoulder. "But to answer your question: yes, I'm fine. Just woolgathering, is all. Shall we begin, then?"

She nodded, a spark returning to her blue eyes as she led the older man back towards the scene. Her fellow technicians were already photographing and documenting everything, though they had been careful not to move anything as yet. Jon still needed to do his sweep and see what could be found. So he started like he always did: with the bodies. "So what do we know so far?" he asked the girl as he knelt down beside them.

"Two victims, obviously," she said. "Male is one Timothy Dallop, age 23 and owns the apartment. Female is Jennifer Tews, age 21. Doorman remembers seeing them both come in last night, ID'd the woman as the girlfriend, as if their, ah, situation didn't fill that in already."

Jon looked at her from where he stood beside the bed, the naked bodies lying on it partially covered by the sheets. "Yes," he said simply. "Fairly obvious. Please continue," he asked as he resumed his examinations.

"No obvious cause of death," she resumed, "no weapons found in the apartment." She fidgeted nervously for a moment before adding in a rush, "This is another one of those, isn't it? The murders you've been investigating?"

Jon looked at her and shook his head. "Too early to tell. Could just be a double suicide, maybe a murder-suicide. Still need to run down a lot of information before we can make that conclusion." He stood up and circled the bed. "Though to be honest, who would swallow a poison and then immediately hop into bed with someone? Who called it in?"

"The doorman," the technician supplied. "It being a Tuesday and all, he noticed when Mr. Dallop didn't come down in time for work as he does every day, and so got curious. He tried to ring up here, but got no answer. He eventually came up and tried the door, which was locked. That's when he called us."

Jon rubbed his chin as he began to walk out of the bedroom into the rest of the meager apartment. "So a locked door, two dead bodies, and yet another mystery," he said as much to himself as to the girl. "Julie, I think this is just the start of another long week."

Fiction Fridays: The Dresden Files

May as well start a second series of posts to go along with the previous ones, and for the sake of alliteration we shall go with Fiction Fridays. Every Friday, I'll do my best to either bring you a book review or, if I'm feeling froggy, a short piece of fiction I've written myself.

This week, though, we'll go with a book review, or maybe overview is more appropriate a term, as I'm going to cover one of my favorite series thus far: The Dresden Files.

Written by Jim Butcher, the Dresden Files as of this writing consists of 14 novels and numerous short stories (which are for the most part helpfully contained in one book called Side Jobs) and can seem like a daunting storyline to jump into. But I believe it's more than worth it for anyone who's a fan of hardboiled detectives, supernatural weirdness, or even if you just need a good laugh mixed with a good story.

Harry Dresden is a wizard. He is also a private detective living and working in Chicago. In point of fact, he's listed in the yellow pages under "Wizard". The series revolves around his various cases (in fact, at several points the books are referred to as 'case files'), whether he got them from a mortal or from some of the other supernatural players in his world.

And boy, is it filled with supernatural players. There are werewolves, faeries big and small (though don't call them faeires to their faces; they prefer to be called the Fae if you need a generic term), angels and demons, creatures from Outside, and of course vampires. Three seperate types of vampire, in point of fact.

While the books all take place in Chicago, the books avoid feeling like these things are happening there arbitrarily, as would be so easy in these types of stories. Butcher does a fantastic job of making sure we know that things are happening worldwide - the Red Court of vampires controls and preys on most of Latin and South America, for example, and the White Council of wizards' security forces are stationed around the globe and always busy. More than that, though, he gives concrete reasons why things seem to come to a head around Chicago, as well, though I won't delve into those reasons here for fear of spoilers.

These books are definitely detective drama, each one narrated by Harry in first person just like a hardboiled detective should do, and considering some of the subject matter covered they should definitely be treated as such. After all, murder is a frequent occurance in any detective story, and the focus of one story is something that amounts to a mental rape. However, the darkness is constantly leavened by humor. Harry is a very snarky person and even uses it as a fear response, returning sarcasm for threats leveled against him by creatures that he has no business fighting, much less beating as he so often does.

For example, in one of the most recent books he's visited by the Archangel Uriel (yes, an archangel visits him, and on good terms no less). He nicknames him Mr. Sunshine. Of course, this is after he nicknames the Denarians - an order of people that have, more or less willingly, joined themselves to fallen angels bound within the thirty denarii coins that Judas received as payment - the Nickelheads. And let's not even go into the running gag of buildings setting on fire around him - to the point where one of the books starts with the line "The building was on fire, and it wasn't my fault."

I swear, I had to put the book back down for several minutes after reading that line.

But in addition to all of this, one of my favorite things is that one of the secondary characters named Michael Carpenter. He is one of the Knights of the Cross, an order of warriors that fight against the Denarians in particular, and other supernatural evils in general, wielding three swords that have nails worked into the hilts. Specifically, the three nails from the Cross. Everyone who wields one is called by God, most often receiving a visit from the Archangel Michael who presents them with the sword. Michael is a rarity in fiction, a Christian who is not portrayed as a joke or as someone who is ignorant or what have you. He is a strong character who's faith in God and Christ is evident for all to see. He is a caring father, a loving husband, highly respected by all who meet him - even his enemies. This isn't to say he's perfect; in one story someone kidnaps his daughter, and his fury is very real and he's only stopped by a soft word from Harry. In all, he's an incredibly human character, a strong Christian man who is nonetheless flawed, just like we all are.

Now, be aware that these books read like popcorn. Butcher is very good at the art of leading, taking you so smoothly from one chapter to the next that you don't even realize that the "one more chapter" you were going for just became about five. I love these books, and would recommend them to anyone who might enjoy the genre. And if you're not sure if you would or wouldn't, pick up Storm Front and give it a try.

Conundrum

So I've kinda gone off on a Warhammer tangent, haven't I? Time to swing back around to all that other stuff I promised in that first post.

Ever since I was a kid, I've considered myself a writer. I'm pretty decent at it; not New York Times Bestseller level, maybe, but I'm not bad. I have a knack for storytelling that could only have been given by God. Even now, when I think of who and what I am, one of the first words to come to mind is 'writer'.

So I find myself bothered by the fact that I haven't written a word of fiction in weeks.

I know why it is. Working an early morning shift leaves me exhausted when I get home, and I struggle between work, trying to spend as much time as I can with my wonderful new wife, and still have something resembling a social life. I just don't get a chance to sit down and write like I want to. I even have a story half-finished that I need to complete for a submission deadline. I just can't motivate myself to get it done.

So why am I sitting here doing a blog when I should be doing that, you ask? Because I'm trying to set up habits. If I can make myself write for a little while every day, even about something so meta as writing, then maybe I can discipline myself to get my stories finished. To tell what it is I want to tell. Because if I wait on the mood, I'm going to be waiting a long, long time.

Or at least until I get a job not on the freakishly early shift.